How to Trick People into Thinking You Are a Genius
It’s much more than raw intelligence
Imagine you have a shot at $1 million… now imagine that chance rests on your ability to recall general trivia.
This was exactly the case when Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer met on the set up Jeopardy for the Greatest of All Time Championship. All these men were excellent during the tournament, but Ken was in rare form. He seemed to always be first to the buzzer, recalling obscure facts on everything from rare art to pop music to wars in Asia.
You couldn’t help but think it: “He’s a genius.”
At the end of the championship, Ken raised his hands in victory. James embraced Ken with and said “we’re not worthy” reverence. This reaction mirrored the sentiment of everyone watching. America loves a genius.
Or at least, we love people who appear to be geniuses. After all, get Ken Jennings in a pool with Michael Phelps or on a basketball court with Lebron James, and suddenly he’s more normal than a cactus in the desert. Our perception of genius usually relies on circumstance more than any raw intelligence.
Ken showed us the first trick to looking like a genius: only appear in an environment which you can dominate. You may not be a trivia whiz, but I’m willing to bet…
